Austria sets free deported ex-Nazi guard Josias Kumpf

Austria has set free a former Nazi concentration camp guard who was extradited by the US for allegedly participating in the massacre of more 8,000 civilians, including 400 children.

Josias Kumpf, a former member of the SS, participated in the Nazi operation Harvest Festival in November 1943 when more than 42,000 Jews were murdered over two days.

According to the US Justice Department, Mr Kumpf, 83, who immigrated to America from Austria in 1956, helped to kill about 8,000 inmates of the Trawniki concentration camp in Poland. He allegedly stood guard over a pit where prisoners were being executed and “finished off” the wounded.

The Austrian Justice Ministry said that Kumpf, who has been stripped of his American citizenship, could not be prosecuted and has therefore been set free, despite the fact that he has no passport or residence permit.